In substrate treating appliances, such as laundry appliances, oftentimes different chemistries are added to the appliance during different treatment cycles or at different times during a given treatment cycle, depending on the treatment function to be performed, and depending on the item being treated, for example. It is known to provide different containers containing different chemistries, such that during operation of the appliance, the appropriate chemistries can be selected and introduced to the appliance. U.S. Published application 2006/0081016 discloses an automatic washer with several different containers with different chemistries to be dosed to the washer.
Dispensing high volumes of liquid from a cartridge or bottle into an automated appliance requires a docking system to join the two together. The industry standard seals presently used to prevent liquids from leaking into the surrounding environment when the two mechanisms are joined are meant for low volume transfer. These low volume docking mechanisms use a small diameter hollow needle to puncture through a soft membrane seal attached to the orifice of the bottle. When the small needle is removed, the soft membrane self-heals itself to prevent the liquid from leaking out of the bottle. When a large diameter needle is used to transfer high volumes of liquid quickly, the standard membrane seal cannot self-heal when the needle is removed because the membrane material is ripped beyond its capacity for its natural “plastic memory” to return to its static state before being punctured. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,388 discloses a docking system for a bottle in which a transfer needle punctures a frangible membrane which will not thereafter reseal.
Therefore some type of mechanical mechanism must be used to force the large hole in the membrane closed.
It would be an improvement in the art if there were provided an arrangement for assuring that the chemistry cartridges have seal members that effectively reseal themselves even when high volume needles are used to puncture the seals.